Did you follow your childhood ambition?
By Lynn Fowler
@lynnief (1203)
Australia
March 14, 2018 5:47am CST
What was your ambition when you were a kid, and did you follow it in your adult life?
Apart from a brief spell when I wanted to be a fashion designer (the result of far too much time spent playing with Barbie dolls) my great ambitions between the ages of about 7 and 13 were to be a ballerina and an engineer. I figured that I could do both at the same time, engineer by day and dance by night (when you're 10 years old, who needs sleep?) and the fact that at that time there was not one single female engineer in the whole of Australia did not seem to me to be an obstacle at all. I never followed either course. I became a Christian in my mid-20s and was called into ministry, which I have been involved in ever since.
Even though writing was always part of my life, as far back as I can remember, I never wanted to "be a writer." Even today, with 7 books published, I still tend to think of writing as something extra that I do rather than as a career. It has always been a love/hate relationship.
8 people like this
13 responses
@mlgen1037 (29882)
• Manila, Philippines
14 Mar 18
Wow. That's awesome. I wanted to be a doctor or lawyer but then I guess business is what I am meant to do.
2 people like this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
16 Mar 18
I wanted to be an emperor. I just loved the thought of being able to control so much, plus, it felt natural (I later learned that it's kind of in my blood, considering I have Tzars as ancestors). But I abandoned that dream, and decided I wanted to write. But I didn't come across that love until I was already studying to become an engineer, so for years, I tried to find a job in my field, while practicing my writing on the side. Whenever I moved, I got writer's block, and couldn't write.
At the end of 2016, I finally self-published my first short story, and have continued to do short stories, though I do have one that is 30,000 words long. It's still a struggle to write with my uninhibited drive like I had in the past, but I have over 300 partially completed stories that I still work on. I tend to spawn more when I'm tired. I need to get them out, rather than work on them though.
So with my writing dream still in the works, I have been considering my earlier dream, though it has undergone a bit of an upgrade... If I can't become an emperor, I'll just make myself a god. :P So far, I'm not too far off from that goal. XD After all, I'm already the creator of hundreds of fantasy worlds in my stories. I just need to apply some of that wisdom to this world now.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (98072)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
14 Mar 18
One thing that has come from childhood is my love of writing and poetry. My dad was a famous Latvian poet and writer and I inherited my poetic talent from him. I started writing poems at the age of 8 in both Latvian and English. Another thing that came from childhood is my love of art and creating things but now I don't have so much time for that. I just realized one dream and that is that I had my first book of poem self-published on Amason titled Poetic Thoughts Fly and I am thrilled about that.
1 person likes this
@lynnief (1203)
• Australia
14 Mar 18
It's great to see women doing these kinds of things today. In my childhood it was unheard of, except in my family. It would never have occurred to my parents to say, "You can't do that, you're a girl." In fact the engineering was encouraged, the ballet was discouraged.
1 person likes this
@sprite1950 (30461)
• Corsham, England
14 Mar 18
I wanted to be a nurse when I was little. I had a nurse's outfit and would go round with a stethoscope listening to hearts and taking temperatures. I actually became a secretary which has been useful as I can use my typing skills today and then later a chef. I'm not so much a writer as a forum poster, I like the interaction with other people.
@MainerMikeBrown (1373)
• Bridgton, Maine
14 Mar 18
One ambition I had as a kid was to be a disk jockey for a radio station.
And years later (in 1998), I did an internship at a small commercial radio station, although I was never a DJ there.
However, in 2006, I became a DJ for a small, all volunteer radio station. I later became the production manager at that station.
I was also an occasional on air guest at a small college radio station, as by best friend at the time was a student there and had a weekly radio show.
@id_peace (17036)
• Singapore
20 Mar 18
Nope if i follow my childhood ambition, i will end up in jail.
@mohit459 (12564)
• Haldwani, India
14 Mar 18
I want to be an Astrophysicist but now Im in bussing and management field.
